I’m not sure why we spend so much time trying to marginally improve the S&OP process each month. We always end up changing our plan later.
Koray Guleyupoglu
Sr. Supply Planner
When reality doesn’t follow the forecasts and plans you’ve carefully crafted, when and how do teams respond?
Too often issues are overlooked, falling into the gap between planning and execution until it’s too late, and you’re left manually firefighting once again. Problems are not met with timely solutions due to:
Gaps between processes: Inventory risks and opportunities are missed or not identified until the last minute, when they’re expensive and hard to address
- Ad hoc analysis, in manual spreadsheets
- Decisions with incomplete information
Gaps between teams: Planners, customer supply chain, inventory managers and others each have their own view on the most pressing issues
- No shared understanding of problems
- Hours of calls, meetings and emails to create alignment
Gaps between systems: Data to understand the upstream and downstream impacts of changes sit in different systems that can’t talk to each other
- Forecasts, orders, POS, shipments and inventory spread across tools
- Data comes in different formats, requires translation
On demand webinar
A sweet deal: How global confectioner Ferrero takes a bite out of supply chain issues
Featuring Glenn Lawse, VP Supply Chain USA at Ferrero
Watch now »
What are people saying?
Valvoline’s supply chain strategy is to become more and more forward-looking, proactively aligning inventory to future demand, instead of simply reactive to customer orders... Too much of the current reporting washes out the details and hides problems.
Craig Moughler
Chief Supply Chain Officer
The gap? There are many, but the largest is the need to move from inside-out to outside-in processes. We must get past the functional data/process silos to serve the market.
Lora Cecere
Supply Chain Shaman
Resources
Infographic
Beware the gap
Supply chain firefighting may be an accepted fact, but how has it changed in recent years? We examine trends in contributing factors, how companies respond...
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Infographic
Where are consumer goods supply chains hurting the most?
What North American supply chain professionals said about their top priorities, challenges responding to consumer demand changes and inventory management gaps
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Article
New white paper exposes the gap between planning and execution
Understand how gaps between systems, teams and processes are keeping you constantly firefighting and hurting your supply chain resilience
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Article
Say goodbye to constant supply chain firefighting: A guide
How to take an iterative approach to digital supply chain transformation with real-time alerts that motivate teams to collaborate on issue resolution
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Article
Talking better product launch and allocation decisions with Ferrero USA
The global confectioner mitigates waste, improves service levels and controls costs by connecting digital supply chain visibility with POS analytics
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Article
New survey highlights practices that limit supply chain firefighting
A survey of 500 supply chain professionals at consumer goods companies shows relationships between firefighting, network visibility & POS analytics
Keep reading
